scene. Sorrowfully she too watched this pair, saw their grace, admired
their beauty, envied their happiness; for, short as her wedded life had
been, the thorns already pierced her through the roses, and with each
airy revolution of those figures, dark and bright, her discontent
increased, her wonder deepened, her scrutiny grew keener, for she knew
no common interest held her husband there, fascinated, flushed, and
excited as if his heart beat responsive to the rhythmic rise and fall of
that booted foot and satin slipper. The music ended with a crash, the
crowd surged across the floor, and the spell was broken. Like one but
half disenchanted, Gilbert stood a moment, then remembered his wife, and
looking down met brown eyes, full of tears, fastened on his face.

"Tired so soon, Babie? Or in a pet because I cannot change myself into a
thistledown and float about with you, like Manuel and Pauline?"

"Neither; I was only wishing that you loved me as he loves her, and
hoping he would never tire of her, they are so fond and charming now.
How long have you known them--and where?"

"I shall have no peace until I tell you. I passed a single summer with
them in a tropical paradise, where we swung half the day in hammocks,
under tamarind and almond trees; danced half the night to music, of
which this seems but a faint echo; and led a life of luxurious delight
in an enchanted climate, where all is so beautiful and brilliant that
its memory haunts a life as pressed flowers sweeten the leaves of a dull
book."

"Why did you leave it then?"

"To marry you, child."